Weekend at the cottage

A new week is almost gone and the weekend is getting closer and closer. Last weekend (Wednesday to Sunday) we stayed at our cottage in the southern parts of Sweden.It was a bit cold during the first couple of days, but then the sun arrived and made everything so much better. We had the funeral for my mother in law's sister Svea. It was a beautiful, but sad. Afterwards we just tried to keep up the spirit among us and for the brother Hartvig, who has lost two sister in a short time. He was happy to have company by us and my husbands cousin, too.

During the weekend I did some gardening, took a walk and sat by the lake. And took a swim! The water was so extremely cold! But it felt good and I slept like a baby after that.

Here are some photos from the weekend!

R2-D2 and C-3PO as cars, from Hot Wheels. Took this photo for the May 4th.

Some of the flowers at the funeral.

The old bridge and a area for the horses and sometimes even for BBQ party.

The very simple road to the lake.

Spring makes everything so light green.During summer it is darker and when fall comes, it is yellow, orange and light brown.

Some parts of the road has gravel.

At the lake.

This is where I sit and breathe, think and enjoy my free time.

The lake Hörnen, where we swim. Some even fish, but I rather see the fish play and have fun.

Took along my little Blythe (Littlest Pet Shop Blythe) named Button.

A house for the boats, fish nets, fishing rods and so on.And Button, of course.

Button sitting by the lake.

When I saw this the first time, I did not want to swim in the lake.But the big fish does not swim near the people.The smaller ones does and can even play with you, especially your feet.

The boars have made a mess, or just made it comfortable for themselves. There are many boars in these woods.A boar family can be as big as 30 boars. Have seen and heard some.There are even other animals like fox, squirrel, tawny owl, deer, moose and of course even butterflies, dragon flies, spiders, beetles, ants and so.

The forest has a lot of flowers, animals and insects. This blue flower is a hepatica.

Button sits among some wood sorrel. Those green leafs you can eat. They have a sourish taste.

A secret portal? And where to?This forest is a bit magical.

Here are some big ones. Would not call them pebbles, more steady rocks. There are a lot ofrocks around in these parts of Sweden.

This is a windflower, an Anemone nemorosa.

Some rocks on pile. These have been either a part of a stone wall, a dwelling or a barn.There are similar piles that have been an old grave.

This is the annex at our garden. The girls have their quarter there. Beds, furniture and lights.

And this is our cottage, built by my parents in law in the early 1960's. Two bedrooms, one kitchen, one bathroom, a dining place / living room and a tiny room for shoes, clothes and such.

So, this is a piece of Jakobstorp, a place where I spend my summers and free time as often as we can. There is more, but that I can show you during our summer vacation. When the kids were small (before they started school) I lived here with them for about 6-7 months every year. Had a lot of help from the relatives who lived near and my hubby came every weekend, to be with us. I could study and work from there too, so it was a great time for us all. The kids grew up there and they love the place. And so do the rest of us.

What a wonderful place to spend time! It's so beautiful and peaceful! The lake and woods are magnificent. And what a lovely, cozy house and annex house! I enjoyed looking at your pictures very much and can imagine very well why you love it there so very much :-).Enjoy the weekend!

Thank you, it is a wonderful place to be and I wanted to share some photos with you all. It gives you a chance to see how it looks like at my part of the world. I am glad that you enjoyed the photos!Have a nice weekend!

Thanks for taking us to this beautiful place. I am a real arm-chair traveler. It's cheap and you don't need a passport; you just sit at home and look at the wonderful photos that people share (smile). Happy Mothers Day!

I'm very happy you posted these photos. I always envy your part of the world, surrounded by lush forests and serene landscapes. There is so much greenery over there, it boggles my mind. In my town, it only goes green if we have a good rain season otherwise everything is usually quite brown so seeing these photos really lifts my spirits and gets my imagination going. Some of the forest photos you took really brought to mind how I pictured the Whispering Woods in my story world.

The cottage looks like a great place to relax, unwind and just enjoy being among nature. It looks peaceful and soothing for the soul.

I also forgot to mention last time that I love your new layout. It looks great!

Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed these photos! It is very green and it will get more green in the following week, a bit into June. And now it is especially beautiful with the apple trees and cherry trees in bloom. Our neighbors plum tree is full with flowers and I am waiting for my peony to show its pink flowers.

The woods in Jakobstorp are magical and there are many places with stories. I can share some of them later on. Take my dolls, photograph and tell the story. So, it sure can be a lot like Whispering Woods! :)

I really get relaxed there, at the cottage. I can take my breakfast, lunch or dinner from the kitchen to the garden, I can take a walk to the lake or take a walk to the nearest tiny town with a grocery store - and enjoy the nature at the same time.

I can help but admire the nature of Sweden. So gorgeous. I bet it must be a place with a lot of peace and harmony in your cottage. Lovely photos! I'm sorry about the funeral, it always suck. I hope you and your entire family will soon face some better times.

Thank you, the nature near our cottage is rather amazing and it is so calm, silent and good for ones soul. Sweden is a long country and it is different from south to north. My parents had a cottage in north and it was more "barren" and not so lush. And even the animals differ - bears in north and boars around our cottage. It really sucks, two sisters (husband's mum and aunt) leaving us in a very short time. Even if it was nice to meet the relatives and so, it would have been so much better with a big family dinner or something else. We now hope for some better times.

Hi Niina, wonderful pictures! I would love visiting Sweden, I am always thinking about going there! The only thing that I don't "agree" with you is to bathe is those cold waters!!Sorry about your loss.Hugs from Spain

Hello Rosana and thank you! :) There is lots of things to see and experience over here in Sweden. Several places are well known as places for tourists - like Dalecarlia, Jukkasjärvi and the Old Town in our capital!But the waters are rather cold over here :D but after a warm summer day, it is a great feeling to bathe in it! Thank you, it has been a rough start for this year!Hugs!

What a wonderful environment Niina, thank you so much for sharing it with us. I love the woodland and the thought that there are so many different animals living there in harmony with you and your family. I have to say that I thought I was very brave for going in the sea one day this week, until I read that you'd been swimming in your lake! My goodness I can only imagine how cold that must have been!!!! I too would have felt a bit reluctant to swim if I knew there were big fish like that in the water but if they stay out of my way, I'll stay out of theirs ;)

Enjoy your time, and I'm sorry again for the loss of your auntie :( But I'm glad she was given a good send off at her funeral.xx

Thank you so much! It is a lovely place and the animals do live in harmony. Met a couple of deers that weekend. One of them was a little bit to comfy with me being in the garden. Heard it skipping in the woods, calling and then sudden silence and eyes on me. Some animals do not care. One of the younger girls in the village told that the boars did not move at all, when she came riding through the woods.Oh, yes, it was very cold in the lake. My husband told that he could feel the "ice", so cold was it. The fish do not bother us, especially the larger ones. The tiny ones are curious, but harmless. The in between can get playful. Once a fish played with my feet, when I was swimming. But they do not bite. :) It was a beautiful funeral and it was nice to meet all the relatives and friends, even under these sad moments.Hugs!